Lorain Port Authority opens new Ferry Terminal Building

LORAIN — The newest building on Lorain’s waterfront officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony March 18.
Officials gathered at the Lorain Port Authority’s new Ferry Terminal Building, 319 Black River Lane, to celebrate the building that was years in the making.
Construction began last year and the Port staff already have moved into its offices, but the gathering was the first to commemorate the new structure. The building also will serve as a ticket booth, snack stand and waiting area for passengers of the Jet Express IV ferry.
The speakers included Port Executive Director Rick Novak, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Betty Sutton, the former Lorain representative who now serves as administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corp.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer sent representatives to the ceremony, which included Port board members and staff from organizations and businesses around Lorain. A special guest in attendance was Pete Yeager, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran who served as keeper of the Lorain Lighthouse.
Every great port city has a ferry landing, Kaptur said, citing the Thousand Island region of New York and Mackinac Island in northern Michigan as examples.
“You think about the old expressions, a step at a time,” she said. “This is definitely another step forward for Lorain.”
The Port Authority’s new building is the most recent example of improvements that are taking place along the Lake Erie shoreline, Kaptur said. It also is a way for people to rediscover the coast and make connections to activities around the region, she said.
“I can’t compliment you enough,” Kaptur said. “We have you under our right eagle’s wing.”
Novak thanked Sutton, Lorain Councilman-at-large Joe Koziura, who as mayor helped the Port Authority develop the former riverside railroad tracks to become Black River Landing, and former state Rep. Dan Metelsky for his help in Columbus. Each summer, the Black River Landing hosts the International Festival Bazaar and other events that draw thousands to the city’s waterfront.
Sutton also helped the Lorain Port Authority obtain money to purchase the Jet Express IV ferry that is operated by the Put-in-Bay Boat Line Co.
Around the Great Lakes, if the eight states and two Canadian provinces were a single country, they would have the fourth largest economy in the world, behind the United States, China and Japan, Sutton said. If political leaders and residents responsibly can use that economic engine for an advantage in the Midwest, the opportunities are endless, she said.
Now also is the time to cast off “Rust Belt,” the derogatory moniker used to describe this part of the country, Sutton said.
“That is not acceptable,” Sutton said. “That is not who we are. We are the Opportunity Belt and that water, that lake, the system that we all share and we have access too, that is the key to the opportunity before us.
“Right here, right now I encourage you all to join together to refute that name which doesn’t do our people, or our communities, or our area justice, and refer to us as something much more fitting. We are the Opportunity Belt.”
As for the ribbon-cutting, the crowd laughed when Kaptur pulled out a green sash she received as part of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations March 17.
“I actually have a ribbon,” she said.
Kaptur, Sutton, Novak and Port board members snipped the green sash and the group applauded.
More information about the Lorain Port Authority’s programs is available at www.lorainportauthority.com.